Voice Students and Faculty Compete, Present and Adjudicate at NATS Conferences

Several Shenandoah Conservatory voice students and faculty attended the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Virginia conference on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25 at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Adjunct Instructor of Voice-Contemporary Voice Marita Stryker ’23 (Doctor of Musical Arts in Pedagogy – Voice) and Professor of Voice Byron Jones ’04, D.M.A., both presented sessions: “Expression: Giving Voice to Breath” and “Singing Accurately and Expressively in French,” respectively. Stryker and Jones, along with Assistant Professor of Voice (Soprano) Fotina Naumenko, D.M.A., also adjudicated.

Tenor Emanuel Singletary ’25 (Bachelor of Music in Performance) placed first in his category. Sopranos Sofia Stankiewicz ’25 (Bachelor of Music in Performance) and Katie Burnham ’23 (Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance) also placed first in their respective categories.

Sopranos Brielle Windle ’25 (Bachelor of Music in Music Education), Cassidy Holmes ’25 (Bachelor of Music in Performance) and Grace Ashby ’26 (Bachelor of Music in Performance), and tenor Maximiliano Fernandez-Escalona ’26 (Bachelor of Music in Music Education) scored honors and qualified for the regional round, with representation in both the classical and musical theatre categories.

Jones, Naumenko and several students also attended the NATS Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference on March 10 and March 11. Jones and Naumenko adjudicated and Burnham qualified for the national preliminary YouTube round.

Singletary, Burnham, Holmes and Fernandez-Escalona study with Jones; Stankiewicz, Windle and Ashby study with Naumenko.